Muturi accuses President of masterminding corruption deals

Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has sensationally accused President William Ruto of masterminding corrupt government dealings, lifting the lid on the perennial subject of State capture that has perennially torn through successive regimes.

In an interview on NTV yesterday morning, days after he was sacked from Cabinet, Muturi launched a scathing attack on the Head of State, describing him as “absolutely and irredeemably corrupt” and claimed President Ruto was “unfit to hold office”.

He said the President had tried to force mega suspect deals through him during his tenure as Attorney General. He dismissed Ruto as dishonest in his fight against corruption, preaching wine while being at the centre of shady billion-shilling deals within the Kenya Kwanza government.

He cited the botched Adani deal to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport that he was sanctioned by Ruto, and he learnt about the finer details through one of the President’s economic advisers.

“He is the one who is clearly behind it. And I know this because when his adviser...(name withheld for legal reasons) invited me to attend the CoP28 in Dubai in 2023, he gave me a lot of information, which ended up with the Adani deal about the airport, specifically,” Muturi claimed.

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The Standard could not immediately verify Muturi’s claims, including an allegation that Ruto tried to arm-twist him into hurriedly signing a Sh129 billion tree planting deal with some unnamed Russian oligarchs. Also, Muturi did not provide proof of the claims he made.

Efforts to get a comment from State House were futile by the time of going to press.

“I land in Dubai, Ruto calls me (and tells me) those Russians are in Dubai.. they are waiting to sign. I told him, ‘I am at the airport and on transit. I am not leaving.’ He declined, saying, ‘They are there, and your staff has worked on the document.’ I said I needed to go and review it in the office,” alleged Muturi.

“They were purporting to give a grant of Sh129 billion to grow, allegedly, three billion trees towards the 15 billion target (a national tree planting target that should be achieved by 2034). Whenever he comes out with a programme, for him, it is for money-making.” 

David Ndii, Ruto’s senior economic adviser, dismissed the claims on X, stating that the Attorney General does not sign government deals.

“AG does not sign agreements. She/he gives a written legal opinion giving the go-ahead for the government to enter into agreements. The agreements? contracts are signed by CS of relevant ministries,’ said Ndii. 

The former CS also waded into the Sh63 billion Arror and Kimwarer dam project marred with contract irregularities, claiming that he had also resisted pressure to okay the deal.   

“Ruto held a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister and the President. On three occasions, the Head of Public Service wrote to me to accompany the delegation. I wondered why because the country has lost over Sh38b... then they wanted me to sign. I said I can’t append my signature,” he said. 

His remarks raise pressing questions about the systemic corruption in the government. Although he did not campaign much on an anti-corruption platform, the President assumed office with the promise to tackle the vice.

State capture

Ruto had been vocal about State capture and promised that he would establish an inquiry into the subject within the first month of his tenure, but shelved it when he rose to the presidency.

“If you want to know where he has an interest, a CS will make a presentation, and Ruto will take over and begin to explain, making sure that there is no dissent and starts… slowly instilling fear,” he stated. “William Ruto has instilled fear in the entire cabinet that people don’t want to speak.” 

In yesterday’s interview, Muturi had implied that the President disdained institutions and had never been serious about fighting corruption, something he observed as the Head of State approached him to join the State Law Office.

“The first thing he told me was that – I don’t know if he was trying to entice me – any government contract above Sh5 billion… must be approved by the AG (Attorney-General),” said Muturi, who also tore into Ruto’s character, which he described as “dangerous”.

“I think William Ruto is a person with two personalities. The William Ruto that presents to the public is a completely different character from the one that sits behind the office and crafts stuff. That kind of person is quite a dangerous character… It is a very unfortunate situation for the country that we have William Ruto sitting as president of Kenya… I think William Ruto is unfit for the position of President of the Republic of Kenya. I have come sadly to that conclusion, and I have nothing. No bitterness,” said Muturi  Muturi served as Attorney General until last July, when Ruto dismissed his Cabinet in response to a youth-led uprising over proposals to hike taxes. He was sacked from the Public Service docket last week after openly challenging Ruto over abductions last, with Mbeere North MP Geoffrey Ruku nominated to replace him.

Ruto said he sacked Muturi for absconding duty, an allegation that followed accusations that Muturi had been a “fairly incompetent” Attorney General. On Wednesday, Muturi said he had been sacked because of his criticism of State-sanctioned abductions and extrajudicial killings in the country.

“I believe the president’s intention in making that accusation is to divert me from pursuing this issue of abductions and extrajudicial killings. Because he wants me to begin defending myself so that it becomes a back and forth between him and I. I don’t have to defend myself about that. The record is there for everyone to see,” he stated.

He proposed that the country needs a judicial commission inquiry. “People have lost their loved ones, many are still grieving. (Do) we just want to sweep it under the carpet? We’ve lost far too many young Kenyans.” 

Kenya has been reeling from a series of controversies since  the current administration took over, ranging from the explosive Adani deal where the government was to lease Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for 30 years  to the government to government oil deal with Saudi Arabia  and United Arabs Emirates.

There has been a string of controversial deals such as the recent of handling a gas handling facility in Mombasa to Nigeria’s Asharami Synergy after the Energy and Petroleum Ministry stopped Kenya Pipeline Company from developing it.

The pipeline company had planned to build a 30,000 metric tonne Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) facility on land owned by KPRL, which was viewed as a game changer in lowering cost of cooking gas.

According to Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, Kenya should brace for such deals whose argument is that they will enable the government to continue with projects that are key to the economy without straining the exchequer.

Parliament has raised questions about the owners of platforms through which government services were paid after the digitisation of government services. To access these services users are supposed to pay Sh50, which critics claim is being pocketed.

This week parliament was shocked after Interior and National Administration CS Kipchumba Murkomen told MPs yesterday that the service providers behind the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system, which provides advance security screening of travellers into the country are entitled to Sh1.5 billion (about 16 per cent) in commission in the past one year.

This, he said, was a portion of the Sh6.53 billion generated by the system between January 1, last year, when  Ruto ordered the use of the system, and February this year. 

Parliament is also investigating why E-Citizen system which was established in 2014 by Webmasters Kenya Limited, a company founded and run by James Ayugi is still being run by vendors if the government is in control of the system. 

Parliament has directed the Treasury to avail the contracts between the government and the vendors of the platform to determine authenticity Molo MP  Kimani Kuria raised concern that while revenue collections through the E-citizen platform had increased, there was still doubt and confusion over the true owner of the system.